The Blue Nowhere

and the last number he’d dialed was to dispatch. It was a completed three-minute call. But there was no record of central receiving it and none of the dispatchers talked to him. Nobody can figure out how that happened.”
    “Easy,” the hacker said. “The killer cracked the switch.”
    “You’re Gillette,” the captain said. He didn’t need a nod to verify his identity; the tracking anklet was very evident. “What’s that mean, ‘cracked the switch’?”
    “He hacked into the cell phone company’s computer and had all of Andy’s outgoing calls sent to his own phone. Probably pretended he was the dispatcher and told him a squad car was on the way. Then he shut down Andy’s phone service so he couldn’t call anyone else for help.”
    The captain nodded slowly. “He did all that? Jesus, what the hell’re we up against?”
    “The best social engineer I’ve ever heard of,” Gillette said.
    “Goddamnit!” Shelton shouted at him. “Why don’t you just can the fucking computer buzzwords?”
    Frank Bishop touched his partner’s arm, said to the captain, “This’d be my fault, sir.”
    “Your fault?” Captain Bernstein asked the thin detective. “What do you mean?”
    Bishop’s slow eyes moved from Gillette to the floor. “Andy was a white-collar cop. He wasn’t qualified for a takedown.”
    “He was still a trained detective,” the captain said.
    “Training’s a lot different than what goes down on the street.” Bishop looked up. “In my opinion, sir.”
    The woman who’d accompanied Bernstein stirred. The captain glanced at her and then announced, “This is Detective Susan Wilkins from Homicide in Oakland. She’ll be taking over the case. She’s got a task force of troopers—crime scene and tactical—up and running at headquarters in San Jose.”
    Turning to Bishop, the captain said, “Frank, I’ve okayed that request of yours—for the MARINKILL case. There’s a report that the perps were spotted an hour ago outside a convenience store ten miles south of Walnut Creek. It looks like they’re headed this way.” He glanced at Miller. “Steve, you’ll take over what Andy was doing—the computer side of the case. Working with Susan.”
    “Of course, Captain. You bet.”
    The captain turned to Patricia Nolan. “You’re the one the commander called us about, right? The security consultant from that computer outfit? Horizon On-Line?”
    She nodded.
    “They asked if you’d stay on board too.”
    “They?”
    “The powers-that-be in Sacramento.”
    “Oh. Sure, I’d be happy to.”
    Gillette didn’t merit a direct address. The captain said to Miller, “The troopers here’ll take the prisoner back to San Jose.”
    “Look,” Gillette protested, “don’t send me back.”
    “What?”
    “You need me. I have to—”
    The captain dismissed him with a wave and turned to Susan Wilkins, gesturing at the white-board and talking to her about the case.
    “Captain,” Gillette called, “you can’t send me back.”
    “We need his help,” Nolan said emphatically.
    But the captain glanced at the two large troopers who’d accompanied him here. They cuffed Gillette, positioned themselves on either side—as if he himself were the murderer—and started out of the office.
    “No,” Gillette protested. “You don’t know how dangerous this man is!”
    Another look from the captain was all it took. The troopers began hustling him quickly toward the exit. Gillette started to ask Bishop to intervene but the detective was elsewhere mentally, apparently already on his MARINKILL assignment. He stared vacantly at the floor.
    “All right,” Gillette heard Detective Susan Wilkins say to Miller, Sanchez and Mott. “I’m sorry for what’s happened to your boss but I’ve been through this before and I’m sure you’ve been through it before and the best way to show that you cared for him is to apprehend this perpetrator and that’s what we’re going to do. Now, I think we’re all on the same page in terms of our approach. I’m up to speed on the file and the crime scene report and I’ve got a proactive plan in mind. The preliminary report is that Detective Anderson—as well as this Fowler individual—were stabbed. Cause of death was trauma to the heart. They—”
    “Wait!” Gillette shouted just as he was about to be led out the door.
    Wilkins paused. Bernstein gestured to the cops to get him out. ButGillette said quickly, “What about Lara Gibson? Was she stabbed in